Innovative Infant Resuscitator May Be Introduced in India

Monday, October 12, 2015

An innovation that enables infants, who have difficulty in breathing, to respire immediately after birth, developed by a researcher from the faculty of Harvard Medical School along with a few others could be introduced in India.

Dubbed ‘Augmented Infant Resuscitator’ (AIR), the innovative instrument is being described as an add-on device for existing resuscitation equipment that will help monitor the resuscitation performance and provide feedback on the technique employed by health care workers.

“There are millions of babies in the world who do not breathe immediately after birth. They need help but not everywhere there are trained health care workers to properly resuscitate them. Asphyxia and breathing trouble immediately after birth cause death of close to 1.8 million infants, mostly in low- and middle-income countries. This innovation is aimed at solving such issues,” said Dr. Kristian R. Olsen, assistant professor, Harvard Medical School.

Tested in Uganda

Dr. Olsen, who is also the Medical Director for Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Global Health, said already the device was being tested in Uganda.